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Steep Trails-Part28_John Muir(1838-1914)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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only by the few great peaks that rise like islands above the sea of

evergreens.



In descending the eastern slopes of the Cascades the rich, abounding,

triumphant exuberance of the trees is quickly subdued; they become



smaller, grow wide apart, leaving dry spaces without moss covering or

underbrush, and before the foot of the range is reached, fail



altogether, stayed by the drouth of the interior almost as suddenly as

on the westernmargin they are stayed by the sea. Here and there at



wide intervals on the eastern plains patches of a small pine (Pinus

contorta) are found, and a scattering growth of juniper, used by the



settlers mostly for fence posts and firewood. Along the stream

bottoms there is usually more or less of cottonwood and willow, which,



though yielding inferiortimber, is yet highly prized in this bare

region. On the Blue Mountains there is pine, spruce, fir, and larch



in abundance for every use, but beyond this range there is nothing

that may be called a forest in the Columbia River basin, until we



reach the spurs of the Rocky Mountains; and these Rocky Mountain

forests are made up of trees which, compared with the giants of the



Pacific Slope, are mere saplings.

XXII



The Forests of Oregon and their Inhabitants

Like the forests of Washington, already described, those of Oregon are



in great part made up of the Douglas spruce[32], or Oregon pine (Abies

Douglasii). A large number of mills are at work upon this species,



especially along the Columbia, but these as yet have made but little

impression upon its dense masses, the mills here being small as



compared with those of the Puget Sound region. The white cedar, or

Port Orford cedar (Cupressus Lawsoniana, or Chamaecyparis Lawsoniana),



is one of the most beautiful of the evergreens, and produces excellent

lumber, considerable quantities of which are shipped to the San



Francisco market. It is found mostly about Coos Bay, along the

Coquille River, and on the northern slopes of the Siskiyou Mountains,



and extends down the coast into California. The silver firs, the

spruces, and the colossal arbor-vitae, or white cedar[33](Thuja



gigantea), described in the chapter on Washington, are also found here

in great beauty and perfection, the largest of these (Picea grandis,



Loud.; Abies grandis, Lindl.) being confined mostly to the coast

region, where it attains a height of three hundred feet, and a



diameter of ten or twelve feet. Five or six species of pines are

found in the State, the most important of which, both as to lumber and



as to the part they play in the general wealth and beauty of the

forests, are the yellow and sugar pines (Pinus ponderosa and P.



Lambertiana). The yellow pine is most abundant on the eastern slopes

of the Cascades, forming there the main bulk of the forest in many



places. It is also common along the borders of the open spaces in

Willamette Valley. In the southern portion of the State the sugar



pine, which is the king of all the pines and the glory of the Sierra

forests, occurs in considerableabundance in the basins of the Umpqua



and Rogue Rivers, and it was in the Umpqua Hills that this noble tree

was first discovered by the enthusiastic botanical explorer David



Douglas, in the year 1826.

This is the Douglas for whom the noble Douglas spruce is named, and



many a fair blooming plant also, which will serve to keep his memory

fresh and sweet as long as beautiful trees and flowers are loved. The



Indians of the lower Columbia River watched him with lively curiosity

as he wandered about in the woods day after day, gazing intently on



the ground or at the great trees, collecting specimens of everything

he saw, but, unlike all the eager fur-gathering strangers they had



hitherto seen, caring nothing about trade. And when at length they

came to know him better, and saw that from year to year the growing



things of the woods and prairies, meadows and plains, were his only

object of pursuit, they called him the "Man of Grass," a title of



which he was proud.




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